Daily: ¡Populista! The deadly allure of Latin America’s left wing strongmen

The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Podmasters

News, Government, Politics, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2021

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Before right wing populists set about ruining the world, it was Latin America’s left wing populists – the likes of Chávez, Ortega and Castro – who rattled the West and threw their own countries into tumult. Why is the strongman’s hold on his country’s politics so unyielding? Will Grant, BBC Latin America correspondent and author of Populista!, joins us from Mexico City to explain how the people’s representatives became authoritarians and despots, what it’s like as a journalist targeted by a real-world army of footsoldiers as well as online trolls, and certain dictators’ early fondness for Blairism… “It was a real baptism of fire living under Chávez. As the media, you were always in his line of fire.” “We saw godlike status being bestowed on some very fallible men” “Some of these men are frighteningly militaristic and conservative… They created the conditions for the likes of Bolsonaro.” “Reagan’s obsession with Ortega was huge… His fixation fuelled a war that killed thousands.” “There’s a real appeal of the caudillo, the strongman who will come in and sort it all out.” “Living and working in these environments, it stretches you as a journalist like nothing else.” Presented by Dorian Lynskey Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:55.3	look after theirs with dental life. Pick big political story of the last five years has been the
1:13.8	return of right-wing populism but the last 20 years in Latin America have been
1:17.1	defined by left-wing populism with a pink tide sweeping the region after the
1:20.7	election of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela in 1999.
1:23.8	With many of these leaders either dead or out of office, it's a good time to look back on the
1:27.4	phenomenon.
1:28.4	My guest today has been a BBC correspondent in the region since 2007 and has met many of the key players. His new book Populista,
1:35.3	the rise of Latin America's 21st century strongmen, examined six huge figures.
1:40.0	Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Lula in Brazil, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Raphael Carrera in Ecuador,
1:46.0	Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and Fidel Castro in Cuba.
	...

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